When 'Star Trek' found love in 19th-century Ireland

Over the years, the crew of "Star Trek" has indeed boldly gone “where no man has gone before.” And occasionally, this has included remote, simulated villages in Ireland to fall in love with holographic Irish bartenders.

One of these parts of Ireland includes the small village of Fair Haven. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s because technically, it doesn’t really exist – even in the show of "Star Trek: Voyager." Fair Haven, you see, is the product of a "holodeck," or a simulated town (think the Matrix).

Fair Haven – not a terribly realistic name for a 19th-century Irish village, sounding more like more like a town that belongs in New Jersey – is the home of a stock Irish TV character: the charming Irishman. Enter Michael Sullivan, local barman - and a hologram. Though she knows he's not real, when Captain Janeway meets Michael, she soon falls for him – especially after adjusting the simulated man by making him even more delightfully dishy in a fairly Irish way. (She makes him single, and upgrades his degree from University College Dublin to Trinity College.)

When it's time for Captain Janeway to return to her ship, the U.S.S. Voyager, she tells Michael, who by now has fallen for Janeway himself, and who doesn’t realize he is the product of a computer program, that she must leave Fair Haven – why, she doesn’t say, and for where, she won’t reveal.

And when she gets back safely on board U.S.S. Voyager, she permanently cuts off access to her beloved imitation barman. What could have been…

Here then, is a clip of the lovesick hologram in question, Michael Sullivan, drowning away his sorrows after losing Captain Janeway.

Interesting Fact:
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" was banned from Irish screens back in 1990 after one of the characters described the effectiveness of terrorist campaigns, citing the "unification of Ireland of 2024" as an example (see the clip).

Who knew that a prediction from a "Star Trek" android could be considered to be of such political importance?